In a recent interview (Romeny Grades Obama) the Republican candidate gave President Obama an F 'across the board'.
Whether WMR actually feels that way or not, it was about the worst answer he could have possibly come up with. Exactly which potential voters does he think that response is going to impress, or encourage to lean his way? The Radical Right is already going to vote for him as will most Republicans. But the much talked about moderates from either party will only roll their eyes at the "F" grading. What makes it inexcusable is that it wasn't a "gottcha question". In fact *not* asking it would have been a bigger surprise than asking it. So, Mitt, how about trying something a little more mature....
"Great question. I want to be fair to Barack because he's a good guy and I personally like him. First, and I think this is incredibly important but for some reason ignored by the media, Barack Obama is the embodiment of what a great father and husband should be. His love, respect and admiration of Michelle is genuine, deep and, frankly, kind of challenges me to be a better husband. He's a wonderful role model as a father. In fact, if more fathers acted like Barack Obama does we could solve a lot of our domestic problems. So as a husband and father I'd give him an A+, without a doubt."
"In foreign policy I think he's done a pretty good job, and he's certainly matured in many ways from some of the statements he made while running for President. For instance, I can't imagine he'd be willing to sit down with Bashar al-Assad without any pre-conditions. He followed President Bush's exit strategy in Iraq, he left in place many of the anti-terrorism actions from President Bush such as the Patriot Act, he's taken President Bush's drone wars to a new level and he deserves credit for assassinating OBL. There are a some things I disagree with him about but I think it's inappropriate to publicly second guess the President of the United States on on-going foreign policy issues. So overall I'd give him a strong B."
"But this election isn't about parenthood and really it's not even about foreign policy. Like President Clinton said, it's the economy. And as much as I personally like President Obama, and as much as we should all admire what a great husband and father he is, we just can't give him anything better than a "D" on the economy. And I'm really not trying to make this a partisan issue, I'm just looking at the facts. Across the board, what economic metric is better now than it was when he took over? The stock market is up but I doubt the President is going to admit his policies are making Wall Street investors richer. On Jan 9, 2009 when President Obama took over, the most comprehensive measure of unemployment in the US, the U6, was at 9.2%. Today it's at 14.8%. And remember, he got exactly what he asked for when Congress passed the largest stimulus package since the Great Depression. His experts, an economist from Berkley and a social worker from Columbia, designed the stimulus package, sold it to Congress and projected that unemployment wouldn't get above 8%. Based on the latest CBO estimates, unemployment from the Obama recessions won't get back to normal for at least 8 more years."
"Candidate Obama was fond of blaming President Bush for everything, and I'm sure we'll hear more about the challenges he inherited. He was also fond of telling us we can't afford another 4 years of failed policies. And on that, I can agree - we can't. And that's why he gets a D."
Whether WMR actually feels that way or not, it was about the worst answer he could have possibly come up with. Exactly which potential voters does he think that response is going to impress, or encourage to lean his way? The Radical Right is already going to vote for him as will most Republicans. But the much talked about moderates from either party will only roll their eyes at the "F" grading. What makes it inexcusable is that it wasn't a "gottcha question". In fact *not* asking it would have been a bigger surprise than asking it. So, Mitt, how about trying something a little more mature....
"Great question. I want to be fair to Barack because he's a good guy and I personally like him. First, and I think this is incredibly important but for some reason ignored by the media, Barack Obama is the embodiment of what a great father and husband should be. His love, respect and admiration of Michelle is genuine, deep and, frankly, kind of challenges me to be a better husband. He's a wonderful role model as a father. In fact, if more fathers acted like Barack Obama does we could solve a lot of our domestic problems. So as a husband and father I'd give him an A+, without a doubt."
"In foreign policy I think he's done a pretty good job, and he's certainly matured in many ways from some of the statements he made while running for President. For instance, I can't imagine he'd be willing to sit down with Bashar al-Assad without any pre-conditions. He followed President Bush's exit strategy in Iraq, he left in place many of the anti-terrorism actions from President Bush such as the Patriot Act, he's taken President Bush's drone wars to a new level and he deserves credit for assassinating OBL. There are a some things I disagree with him about but I think it's inappropriate to publicly second guess the President of the United States on on-going foreign policy issues. So overall I'd give him a strong B."
"But this election isn't about parenthood and really it's not even about foreign policy. Like President Clinton said, it's the economy. And as much as I personally like President Obama, and as much as we should all admire what a great husband and father he is, we just can't give him anything better than a "D" on the economy. And I'm really not trying to make this a partisan issue, I'm just looking at the facts. Across the board, what economic metric is better now than it was when he took over? The stock market is up but I doubt the President is going to admit his policies are making Wall Street investors richer. On Jan 9, 2009 when President Obama took over, the most comprehensive measure of unemployment in the US, the U6, was at 9.2%. Today it's at 14.8%. And remember, he got exactly what he asked for when Congress passed the largest stimulus package since the Great Depression. His experts, an economist from Berkley and a social worker from Columbia, designed the stimulus package, sold it to Congress and projected that unemployment wouldn't get above 8%. Based on the latest CBO estimates, unemployment from the Obama recessions won't get back to normal for at least 8 more years."
"Candidate Obama was fond of blaming President Bush for everything, and I'm sure we'll hear more about the challenges he inherited. He was also fond of telling us we can't afford another 4 years of failed policies. And on that, I can agree - we can't. And that's why he gets a D."
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